Table of Contents
Introduction
The article published in the editorial section of The Hindu Newspaper talks about NFSA and how it has impacted the distribution of food grains among low-income families.
Background Information
What is NFSA
The National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013 is a crucial legislation in India aimed at providing food security by ensuring access to affordable, sufficient, and nutritious food for a large portion of the population. It aims to address hunger, undernourishment, and food insecurity, targeting the rural poor by setting quotas for how much food each family should receive. The NFSA covers about 67% of India’s total population, including 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population.
The act classifies beneficiaries into two groups: Priority Households, who are eligible for 5 kilograms of food grains per person per month at subsidized prices, and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) Households, who are eligible for 35 kilograms of food grains per family per month at the same subsidized rates. The NFSA provides food grains at subsidized rates, such as rice, wheat, and coarse grains, making it easier for low-income families to afford basic nutrition.
The act also focuses on improving the nutrition of vulnerable groups, particularly children and women. It mandates free nutritious meals for children up to 14 years old and additional nutritional support for pregnant and lactating women.
The NFSA strengthens the Public Distribution System (PDS), which has historically been plagued by inefficiencies, such as corruption, leakage, and exclusion of deserving beneficiaries. It also mandates a food security allowance for eligible households in situations where food grains are not available for distribution.
Despite challenges in implementation, the NFSA represents a major step toward ensuring food security for a large section of India’s population.
Article Explanation
The National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013 aimed to improve India’s Public Distribution System (PDS), which provides essential food grains like rice and wheat to millions of low-income families. However, the system had a poor record, with 41.7% of food grains meant for distribution not reaching intended families due to problems like corruption and mismanagement.
Some states that had already started reforming their PDS systems saw significant improvements, such as Bihar, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha, which reduced their leakage from 91% to 24% between 2004-05 and 2011-12. These successes gave hope that with the NFSA making these reforms mandatory across India, more states would be able to fix their PDS systems. In 2022-23, the first large-scale survey after the NFSA’s implementation showed that PDS leakages had decreased to 22%, meaning that fewer food grains were being lost along the way and more were reaching the families that needed them.
“PDS leakages” refer to the amount of food that doesn’t reach the people it’s meant for. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) releases large quantities of rice and wheat for distribution through the PDS. However, often, a portion of this food is lost due to corruption, theft, or poor management. To estimate how much food is lost, researchers compare how much food was officially released by the government with how much food households reported receiving.
During the reference period (August 2022 to July 2023), families holding ration cards under the NFSA were entitled to 5 kilograms of grain per person per month for “Priority” households and 35 kilograms per month for “Antyodaya” households. Additionally, from April to December 2022, families received extra grain under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) as part of COVID-19 relief measures.
One of the major goals of the NFSA was to expand the coverage of the PDS to include more families and reduce “exclusion errors”—situations where families who need food support are left out of the system. In 2011-12, less than half of all Indian households had ration cards, meaning many people were not getting any food support. By 2022-23, thanks to the NFSA, about 70% of households were receiving food from the PDS, which is a significant improvement.
The article points out that while the PDS coverage has expanded, it still falls short of the NFSA’s goal of covering 66% of the population (50% of urban households and 75% of rural households). According to the data, about 70% of households are getting food from the PDS, but only about 57% to 61% of these households are NFSA beneficiaries, meaning they hold ration cards under the NFSA. The rest are getting food from state-level schemes.
States that had started reforming their PDS systems early, like Chhattisgarh and Odisha, introduced several important changes that reduced leakages. These changes included lowering PDS prices, delivering food directly to villages, digitizing records, and giving control of PDS outlets to local groups like panchayats (village councils) and self-help groups.
The introduction of Aadhaar-based biometric authentication (ABBA) may not have played as big a role in reducing leakages as some people think. Instead, the government should prioritize more pressing issues, like conducting the delayed national census, to ensure food security in India. Additionally, there are calls to improve the nutritional quality of the food provided through the PDS by including items like pulses and edible oils, which are important for a balanced diet.
The article argues that instead of focusing on these experiments, the government should prioritize more pressing issues, like conducting the delayed national census. Without this updated data, over 100 million people are being left out of the system. Additionally, there are calls to improve the nutritional quality of the food provided through the PDS by including items like pulses and edible oils, which are important for a balanced diet.
In summary, the NFSA 2013 has helped improve the Public Distribution System by reducing leakages and expanding coverage. Although there is still room for improvement, especially in reaching the full target population and including more nutritious food items, the PDS is now a more effective tool for ensuring food security in India. The government needs to focus on strengthening the system rather than experimenting with new methods that might not be as effective.
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The Editorial Page of The Hindu is an essential reading for all the students aspiring for UPSC, SSC, PCS, Judiciary etc or any other competitive government exams.
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To read this article in Hindi –https://bhaarat.hellostudent.co.in/